The debate (if you want to call it that) over the latest proposal to strengthen the role of the inspector general centers on whether the office should be allowed to investigate aldermen. But the effectiveness of the measure really hinges on a provision that would expand the office's budget and shield it from a politically inspired axe. The proposal from Joe Moore and his allies would do more than protect the office's budget--it would hike it dramatically. This year it would go up 50 percent, from $5.9 million to nearly $9 million.